The Party of Putin

Whether its leaders and members realize it, the Republican Party is at risk of becoming the Vladi­mir Putin-aligned party in the United States. It can be convincingly argued that it’s already similar to Putin-supported parties in Europe, given Donald Trump’s presidency, the Republican base’s increasingly favorable views of Moscow and the House GOP leadership’s disinterest in investigating and preventing Russian interference.

Increasingly sophisticated Russian influence and cyberoperations threaten Americans’ ability to choose their own leaders. This isn’t hyperbole; in fact, it’s hard to overstate just how serious this issue is. Yet President Trump continues to sow doubt about whether Moscow even interfered in the 2016 presidential elections and to suggest the question’s insignificance by ignoring it all together.

Our commander in chief seems more interested in protecting Moscow than he does in deterring its future attacks. The Post reported that the administration is actually considering allowing the Russian government to reopen the two spy compounds that President Barack Obama closed in late December in response to Russia’s election attack. There are also reports that the White House plans to step up lobbying efforts against a new Russia sanctions bill that the Senate passed with overwhelming bipartisan support this month. The measure would add new financial sanctions and require congressional review before Trump could lift these or other retaliatory measures currently levied against Moscow, including the closing of the two compounds.

Worse, Trump appears to have some support in this from Republican leaders in the House. Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have delayed the bill, citing the constitutional requirement that such bills originate in the House.

Serious question… is there actually any way to distinguish between the positions/actions of Trump regarding Russia and an American president who was an actual Manchurian Candidate style plant? Whatever it is, it’s not much. And, hey, Trump is Trump and generally horrible in most everything. What is more concerning is so many Republicans willing to go blithely along. Nicely captured in this tweet I saw the other day:

yall want black people to have 3 IDs to vote because "election fraud"… but are completely unbothered by russia meddling in our elections.

One Response to The Party of Putin

Trump must WIN every time. He doesn’t follow any rules except that one. To think he’s going to attack or limit any one or entity who he sees as helping him is to ignore that rule.
Ethics? That’s for p…..s.